airson

See also: air son

Scottish Gaelic

Alternative forms

Etymology

Combination of preposition air (on/for) and noun son (sake); compare Irish ar son. Before the spelling reform of the 1980s it was sometimes written as two words.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ərˠˈs̪ɔn/, [əɽˈʂɔn]

Usage notes

  • The stress falling on the second syllable is unusual in Scottish Gaelic. This is due to the word being formed from a compound, which is now merely written as a single word - an orthographic choice with no hyphenation, unless there is a pronominal object (argument) that separates the constituent words.

Preposition

airson (+ genitive)

  1. for, for the sake of
    Tha iad a' strì airson na dùthcha.They are struggling for the sake of the country.
    Tha mi fada nad chomain airson do litreach.I am much obliged to you for your letter.
    Tha iad a' coimhead airson taighe ùire.They are looking for a new house.
  2. because
    Tha i na leabaidh airson 's gu bheil i fliuch taobh a-muigh.She's in bed because it's wet outside.
  3. (before a verbal noun) desirous of, wanting to
    A bheil thu airson falbh?Do you want to leave? (literally, “Are you for leaving?”)

Usage notes

  • When used with a personal pronoun, the appropriate possessive pronoun is put in between air and son instead:
    Rinn Cailean sin air ur son.Colin made that for you.
    An tèid thu ann air mo shon?Will you go there for me?

Inflection

Personal inflection of airson (compound preposition)
Number Person Simple Emphatic
Singular 1st air mo shon air mo shon-sa
2nd air do shon air do shon-sa
3rd m air a shon air a shon-san
3rd f air a son air a son-se
Plural 1st air ar son air ar son-ne
2nd air ur son air ur son-se
3rd air an son air an son-san

Synonyms

Derived terms

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.